Testies Survival Kit: Safety Pin

ITEM USED: Safety Pin

COUNTRY USED IN: Mozambique

CHALLENGE OVERCOME: Bridget Jones Moments

There are times we've had to travel on the back of pick-ups. At these times my little green handkerchief that I've been using to tame my hair just hasn't cut the mustard, despite generous efforts.

It was on a pick-up journey from Namiala to Pemba that I discovered a use for my safety pins in my trusted Testies Survival Kit.

As well as the handkerchief, I could put up the hood on the blue fleece donated to me by Carol in Cape Town.... and use the safety pins to hold the hood in place in the gale force winds!

Dear Readers, this is probably the best use of a survival kit item I have made to date. I might have looked light a tool on the journey, but I arrived with hair that didn't resemble Bridget Jones' on her arrival to country getaway with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).

Well done safety pin, well done.

Ilha De Moçambique

Since 1991, Mozambique Island (or Ilha De Moçambique in the Portuguese tongue) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the must-see-destinations in northern Mozambique. A former Arab port and trading centre, and the capital of Portuguese East Africa for several centuries, this tiny island is steeped in history and Jennie and I were most eager to explore it.

Arriving at our first guest house following a 40-hour journey (chronicled by Jen in the previous entry) we decided for one night only to ignore the fact that the price was a little high and instead pretend that we were one of the island's 17th century gold traders by treating our sleep-deprived selves to a room that looked like this.

The only things missing were a swathe of servants and incalculable wealth. I asked for both. I received neither. Meh. Still, it was a lovely place and for dinner that night we treated ourselves to the local speciality called matapa - cassava leaves cooked in a peanut sauce - which was nothing short of delicious.

Nice as that room was, for cost reasons we had to move to a different place the next morning and what a place we moved to - Ruby Backpacker is an absolute gem. An intimate little travellers haven that I'd liken to a Moroccan Riad, it had a great rooftop terrace, a good bar and an absolutely brilliant kitchen - the Portuguese owner, Claudia, has brought real Mediterranean style to it and stocked with herbs, spices and oils unheard of in most backpacker establishments. To top it all, she bakes a daily cake treat - it's sublime.

Difficult as it was to actually leave Ruby, the old colonial part of the island, known as Stone Town, awaited us. Having already tasted Kenya's Lamu and Tanzania's Zanzibar, we were really interested to see how Mozambique's equivalent stacked up. What instantly strikes about Mozambique Island is how much quieter it is than the other two - its days as a place of real influence are long, long gone and now it is something of a ghost town with many of the old villas and mansions left crumbling, next to others which have been lovingly restored. This gives the place a rather haunting feel, and is particularly engaging.

We visited a number of particularly grand structures. First was the old Governor's palace and its accompanying maritime and sacred art museums, as well as the on-site chapel and nearby whitewashed Church of the Misericordia. The maritime museum was particularly interesting - such was the strategic importance of Ilha De Moçambique as a trading port that ships from all over the world would stop here, as the collection of fantastically well preserved Ming Dynasty porcelain from a nearby Chinese shipwreck attested to.

The most prominent building on the island is also the largest - the massive Fort of Sao Sebastao, which is in fact the oldest complete fort still standing in sub-Saharan Africa, construction having started in 1558 and taking more than 50 years to complete.

It's tremendously impressive and very well preserved, and standing in the grounds or on the ramparts it was easy to imagine the grandeur of the place in its heyday as it dominated the northern end of the island and the sea port beyond. Much smaller, though equally impressive in its own way was the little Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, just beyond the fort, which having been built in 1522 is said to be the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere.

This day of exploration also came with an added bonus - well, two added bonuses called James and Sam. James is a doctor and Sam a physio who have been living and working in Malawi and are on a final holiday before they head back to the UK to get married (just weeks before we do, as it turns out). We struck up conversation with them around the Governor's palace and continued at the fort, and before long we were downing afternoon beers at their (stunning) hotel and making plans for dinner together that evening.

As it turned out, the two of them had to leave the following morning, but they were a fantastic pair, and we hope very much to catch up with them back in London.

As it also turned out, we'd done the right thing by getting the majority of our sightseeing done already, because the next day the heavens opened and the rains came. Not that this was a particular problem for us - Ruby was the perfect place to spend a rainy day at the bar drinking beer, eating Claudia's baked treats and then later settling in our room to watch a couple of films on the trusty laptop. Seriously, this backpacking lark is sodding hard work.

So it's another early start tomorrow as we head still further north - Pemba, Ibo and the Quirimbas Archipelago await us as our final Mozambican adventures.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) Visiting the market and being surprised by the honest prices and how low they were!

2) The garlic prawns we ate and James' and Sam's hotel

3) The Millennium Bank which on the inside still has the old 1920s style metal bars between customer and clerk, complete with wooden storage draws. It's beautiful.

4) The peanut balls that Sean loved and I thought were far too sickly sweet

5) The small fiasco with our laundry and the rain, it finally dried out just before bedtime

Here are the photos:

BT85_Mozambique Island 4 - 8 July 2011

Final Journey From Hell?

Sometimes the journey requires its own blog entry.

This is one such journey.

We knew that from Vilankulos to Mozambique Island was going to take a least 2 days. We took the decision to pay a little more to go on Mozamibque's luxury bus company, TCO. This bus company doesn't come to Vilankulos, so you have to get a taxi to meet it on the main road. The ticket said 21.30, so on the advice of the ticket office we arrived at 20.30 (buses don't wait if you're not there). It was dark of course as we waited on the side of the road. We grabbed the attention of several children who were working at what appeared to be their drunken mothers roadside cafe shack. When they weren't playing games together, they were making fun of me and Sean, or chopping veggies or serving (and drinking!) beer to passers by. However, if it wasn't for these children Sean and I would have suffered from pneumonia, for they built us a little camp fire to warm ourselves by as we waited for this bus. And waited. And waited. We kept asking ourselves how long we should wait before we decided we'd missed it and head back to Beach Village, but then realising that we didn't have a taxi number we kinda just had to stick it out.

The bus arrived at 1am a mere 4.5 hours after we had. However, it was warm. And luxurious. And we had the front two seats with masses of leg room. So we fell right to sleep after we waved goodbye to our child saviours.

At 7.30am we pulled into the bus station at Beira. This city isn't really that much to talk about. So we just visited an ATM and a Shoprite supermarket to buy breakfast and lunch stuffs. This was our first time in a supermarket in Mozambique and we were mortified by the cost of everything! Why did they import from Portugal and not from South Africa which surely would be much cheaper? Anyway, we managed to get some tuna and super size bread rolls and left happy.

Our next bus was at 2pm. As soon as we got onto it we realised that this one was a much older model of bus, our seats were behind the toilet bulkhead so were the two seats with the least leg room and to top it all as soon as I opened my cup holder out scurried 7 cockroaches. Nice. We have 16 hours on this bus. Sean was my hero and swapped seats with me so that I didn't have to imagine cockroaches crawling over me in my sleep. Sometimes it's better to be in the dark, for you can't see what is happening around you.

We arrived in Nampula at 6am the next day to the sight of burning fires and tramps peeing against the walls. Needless to say we headed straight to the bus station to leave for Mozambique Island. And that is where our luck turned. For we found a chapa going direct to the island we got the front seats, didn't wait more than two hours to leave and the price was right. They even took us straight to our guest house door. Ok, so that took us another four hours, but out of a whole journey time (including waiting times) of just on 40 hours, it really wasn't a big deal!

And if I'm not mistaken, this is probably our last BigTrip long and crappy journey like this one.

I just love a happy ending, don't you?

Toe Watch: Vilankulos

Hi kids! It's time for another stomach-churning toe watch from your good friend The Sean.

When last we left my toe, it having just been drained in Cape Town, I was thinking that it wouldn't be too long until the nail decided to fall off and I could begin the task of growing a new one. As it turns out, my toenail is in fact a stubborn little bastard and is clinging on for dear life for as long as it possibly can. The daylight in between the nail and the toe itself is widening, and snorkeling here in Vilankulos seemed to loosen it still further, but it's still firmly connected at the cuticle and seemingly with no intention of separating itself.

You have to admire its fighting spirit.

If and when things change, dear readers, you will of course be the first to know...

Bons Tempos Em Vilankulos

Our trip to Vilankulos started out hassle free. Sean and I, plus Martin and Michelle, managed to catch the big bus rather than a chapa which was cheaper and didn't have the 'bag fee' that seems to be catching on in Mozambique. We then got the ferry from Inhambane to Maxixe without waiting for less than the book said it would cost. And even managed to find a direct Vilankulos bus. Unfortunately we had a crazy time haggling the price (mainly because a 'beach boy' as they're called had followed us and was trying to get a fee built in). Turns out we paid less than negotiated when on the bus anyway, so go figure! We also met Jenny & Alan on our way up - a larger than life couple of Brits with laughs that make you wanna smile.

We headed straight to Beach Village which had been recommended to us by Richard, a South African we'd met in Tofo. Turns out he wasn't wrong. This place was beautiful! And a good price! And with free WiFi! Jackpot!

We dropped our bags off and headed to the bar to enjoy the last of the afternoon sun.

I was immediately asked by some local girls if I had a camera. I replied I did. So then followed what can only be described as a photo shoot of them. Not sure why they wanted this, but there you go. They seemed to be happy!

Beach Village is run by Terrick, with his puppy Brutus. He's a top chap who made our stay fantastic. Every night Armindo the barman would ensure the fridge was stocked with big bottles of beer, Nelson the chef would cook us up a treat of Kingfish (Sera) or Barracuda and Brutus the puppy would pee on the bar (he only did this once bless him).

We also ventured on a day trip to the island of Margaruque where you can snorkel along a reef just off the islands beaches. We saw Walking-On-Water fisherman who were actually just taking advantage of the low tides as we sailed to the island.

The island was deserted when we arrived and that just made it appear like a remote lagoon. The water was a little cold as we jumped in off the coral, but the reef was worth it. I haven't seen so many different kinds of fish together ever. I actually got a little freaked out by how close they all came and what started crawling out of the coral! We had a wonderful lunch of calamari and crab on the beach, bathed in the sunshine and explored the island before heading home through the channels of water. It was a really lovely day.

In fact, we loved it at Beach Village so much we couldn't leave. We played more Carcassonne, eventually becoming expert enough to be playing all the add-ons. We bought squid and crab from the local fishermen, tipped Nelson the chef to cook it for us and ate like kings!

We even made it out one night to Afro Bar for some crazy dancing sessions! I was told that I danced like I came from Soweto (but that was by a girl from the West Midlands, so I'll take that with a pinch of salt), watched an amazing chap called "Jessie Jackson" bust a move or twenty and even met a lovely girl whose name rhymed with Condolesa Rice who showed us where the bar was and whose boyfriend then went off with another girl so she came back to spend the night with us. At 3am as we left we ran into Terrick who was just arriving. Seems we are not that fashionable when it comes to nightlife in Africa!

It's hard to leave somewhere that is beautiful, full of great people, serves great food, where you rest in the sun reading books by the sea or a pool. But that's what we had to do if we wanted to see the north of this incredible country. So we said a sad farewell to Michelle & Martin, Jenny & Alan as they left to head to Inhassoro. We finished up another delicious fish of the day meal and then went to catch our bus north.

If you're ever in the area - head to Beach Village. It's the only place to be. We'd still be there if we could.

Here are the photos:

BT84_Vilankulos 27 June - 3 July 2011

*Again, thanks very much to Martin who is the author of some of these photos

Tofo

We started early (again) on our way to Tofo from Maputo. Sean and I shared a taxi with Michelle and Martin to the bus station 7km outside of town. All I can say is, just nobody mention the egg sandwich!

It seems as well that in Mozambique people are now trying to charge you for taking bags on board buses. This is frankly stupid, especially when locals take chickens, sacks of rice and plastic buckets with them everywhere. I'm certain they're not succumbing to these additional fees! Anyway, we managed to haggle our way out of the 'bag fees' by shoving our bags under the seats by our feet (like everyone else does!). Still, it's good to know that no matter where you are in Africa people still run up to the side of the bus to sell their wares:

The bus journey was long and filled with stops to let the old man in the back seat go to the toilet and the many other people fill up with sodas along the way. I'm also pretty sure that the two person seat Sean and I were sat on moved forward as the woman behind us pushed us with her plastic bowl as my leg room seemed to reduce over time.

Anyway! We changed at Inhambane. Before negotiating our first chapa ride we found a pastelaria selling that bread we now loved as a lunchtime snack. Then we headed back to the bus station to find something that would take us to Tofo.

We were offered some crazy prices to get us there. Some were just so crazy we laughed. But eventually we had to succumb to the bag fee just to get moving. I'm pretty sure that the lady with the bucket of fish wasn't charged to bring that on board though. And after all that, Martin was still stuck up the front squished behind the railing!

Arriving in Tofo I knew instantly that I was going to like it. The chapa dropped us off in the centre and we had to make our own way 2km down the road to Bamboozi Lodge. It was a pretty pleasant walk, and we kinda liked it after being squished up in a bus all that time. Michelle and Martin wanted to try somewhere else that they'd been recommended so we parted ways with a plan to meet up for dinner later.

Sean and I took two dorm beds and headed up to the bar for a drink. When we came back to the dorm, Martin & Michelle turned up having decided the other place wasn't for them and they had even managed to bargain a bungalow for the price of the dorm - an offer that of course we then piggy backed on! Hooray for upgrades!

It was great to have them at the same place as us and that night we played Carcassonne in the bar over a tasty seafood basket. And to complete the party, Alan - our other new friend from Maputo - even turned up too!

The next day we wandered into town, looking around the varied craft markets. We found a place that would sell us cheap bottles of beer and bought some vegetables. We even bumped into Tom and Betty, our first customers whilst we were 'running' the Mushroom Farm in Malawi. They were doing a string of dives in the area and having a great time. Was so nice to see them!

We returned to Bamboozi with our crate of beers and sat drinking one as the sun went down.

An evening of egg fried rice and Carcassonne followed. Bliss.

We decided the next day that we wanted to sample some of this fish that everyone was offering. Buying it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. There wasn't the same amount of fish on offer this day as there had been the night before and so Michelle, Martin and I went to the beach and played Carcassonne whilst Sean hunted out the fishy deals. He managed to get a load of Crayfish for a very good price in the end and so we headed back to cook it up!

It didn't disappoint either. Michelle asked the kitchen how best to cook it (boil for 5 mins apparently) and we feasted and played... yes, that's right.. Caracassonne. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Alan that night too as he heads up to Malawi.

The remaining four of us decided to stay just one more night before tearing ourselves away to head further north. And good job too because the nice boys on reception bumped Sean and I up again into a chalet for our final night because we'd told them it was our honeymoon (well come on, technically it is, it's our honey-sun - we won't be getting a honeymoon proper). They even dressed the room with flowers and fruits, bless them!

That final day we spent lazing on the beach and swimming in the sea.

Whilst tucking into the last of the crayfish on our last night, we met Richard from South Africa who gave us tips on our next destination of Vilankulos. Michelle & Martin even bought some of the local booze - Tipo Tinto - to try. Basically rum, good with coke.

Tofo is a charming little town with a gorgeous beach and well worth a visit. We're sad to leave. But on we must march!

Here are the photos:

BT83_Tofo 23 - 26 June 2011